Full Text of HJR0134 94th General Assembly
HJ0134 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
|
|
|
HJ0134 |
|
LRB094 20505 HLH 58794 r |
|
| 1 |
| HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION
| 2 |
| WHEREAS, During the week of April 17, 2006, the federal | 3 |
| government conducted a nationwide raid and arrested over 1,000 | 4 |
| undocumented employees of IFCO Systems of North America, a | 5 |
| crate and pallet manufacturer headquartered in Houston, Texas; | 6 |
| and
| 7 |
| WHEREAS, The raid, said to be the largest ever worksite | 8 |
| enforcement operation against a single employer, consisted of | 9 |
| searches and warrant executions on 40 work plants in cities | 10 |
| encompassing 26 states; and
| 11 |
| WHEREAS, Approximately 26 people were arrested in the | 12 |
| company's Chicago facility; and
| 13 |
| WHEREAS, This operation is a component of Homeland Security | 14 |
| Secretary Michael Chertoff's stated campaign to target | 15 |
| employers that hire undocumented workers; and
| 16 |
| WHEREAS, Indicating that the campaign targets employers is | 17 |
| disingenuous when those who are arrested and face deportation | 18 |
| are the 1,187 employees; and
| 19 |
| WHEREAS, The federal government's legal authority to | 20 |
| undertake such actions against immigrant communities does not | 21 |
| diminish the nefarious intent and chilling effect produced | 22 |
| within those communities; and | 23 |
| WHEREAS, The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's | 24 |
| announcement of these raids comes on the heels of a national | 25 |
| news story citing pressure being mounted upon the United States | 26 |
| to apologize for the forced exodus of Mexicans and | 27 |
| Mexican-Americans during the 1930's; and
| 28 |
| WHEREAS, The government-orchestrated systematic |
|
|
|
HJ0134 |
- 2 - |
LRB094 20505 HLH 58794 r |
|
| 1 |
| deportations of the 1930's resulted in the forcible removal of | 2 |
| about 2 million people of Mexican ancestry, approximately 1.2 | 3 |
| million of whom were U.S. born; and | 4 |
| WHEREAS, The inextricable link between immigrants and the | 5 |
| economic foundation of the country we live in today had been | 6 |
| forged by the 1920's, with immigrants present and sharecropping | 7 |
| in California, Texas, and Louisiana, harvesting sugar beets in | 8 |
| Montana and Minnesota, laying railroad tracks in Kansas, mining | 9 |
| coal in Utah and Oklahoma, packing meat in Chicago, and | 10 |
| assembling cars in Detroit; and | 11 |
| WHEREAS, The raids that were conducted in the 1930's had | 12 |
| the acknowledged effect of coercing thousands of individuals, | 13 |
| in addition to those directly deported, to leave the country in | 14 |
| the face of a threatening and violent environment; and | 15 |
| WHEREAS, On January 1, 2006, California enacted the | 16 |
| "Apology Act for the 1930's Mexican Repatriation Program"; and | 17 |
| WHEREAS, In so doing, California acknowledged that the | 18 |
| activities of the 1930's were "fundamental violations" of | 19 |
| "basic civil liberties and constitutional rights"; and | 20 |
| WHEREAS, Like the raids of April 2006, those staged during | 21 |
| the 1930's were well-publicized events in which individuals, | 22 |
| documented or not, were rounded up and detained and subject to | 23 |
| aggressive interrogation; and | 24 |
| WHEREAS, In the aftermath of the April 2006 raids, local | 25 |
| media has issued reports of individuals in immigrant | 26 |
| communities keeping their children home from school, not going | 27 |
| to work, not patronizing local businesses, and not leaving | 28 |
| their homes; and | 29 |
| WHEREAS, These raids took place in the midst of vigorous |
|
|
|
HJ0134 |
- 3 - |
LRB094 20505 HLH 58794 r |
|
| 1 |
| nationwide debate on immigration laws and policies that has | 2 |
| culminated in nationwide demonstrations, lobbying efforts, and | 3 |
| legislative activity in the United States Congress; and | 4 |
| WHEREAS, Although the raids can be said to lawfully target | 5 |
| illegal immigrants for removal, their effect is to create an | 6 |
| environment that is ripe for intimidation, harassment, and | 7 |
| racial profiling; and | 8 |
| WHEREAS, The State of Illinois is currently home to over | 9 |
| 1.4 million immigrants; and | 10 |
| WHEREAS, Applauding the widespread condemnation of the | 11 |
| terrorizing repatriation efforts of the 1930's while condoning | 12 |
| how the Department of Homeland Security has conducted its | 13 |
| recent raids amounts to denouncing history as we repeat it; | 14 |
| therefore, be it | 15 |
| RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 16 |
| NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE | 17 |
| SENATE CONCURRING HEREIN, that that we reject any practice that | 18 |
| fosters an undue fear of persecution among the immigrant | 19 |
| community in the State; and be it further
| 20 |
| RESOLVED, That we urge the Department of Homeland Security | 21 |
| and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to issue a | 22 |
| moratorium on immigration raids until our national elected | 23 |
| officials reach an accord on the nation's immigration policy so | 24 |
| as to allow such a policy to emerge from an environment of good | 25 |
| faith discourse unencumbered by fear; and be it further | 26 |
| RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 27 |
| presented to Senator Barack Obama and Senator Richard Durbin.
|
|